tag:www.gov.uk,2005:/government/organisations/department-of-healthDepartment of Health - Activity on GOV.UKHM Government2015-03-28T14:00:00+00:00tag:www.gov.uk,2005:NewsArticlePresenter/2912502015-03-28T14:00:00+00:002015-03-28T14:00:00+00:00News story: GP evening and weekend appointments to increaseExtra £550 million funding for NHS will improve access to GPs, modernise GP surgeries and improve out-of-hospital care.<div class="govspeak"><p>For patients, this will mean:</p>
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<p>18 million people will, by March next year, be offered more evening and weekend, video, email and telephone consultations, the equivalent of 8,000 more appointments a day</p>
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<p>over 8.5 million people will see redevelopment of their existing practices, to increase clinical space and offer additional services</p>
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<p>greater access to pharmacists, nurses and speech therapists from local GP surgeries</p>
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<p>more personalised advice from pharmacists who will be able to access medical records</p>
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<p>more tests, treatments and services offered closer to people’s homes, including minor operations and blood tests</p>
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</ul><p><a rel="external" href="http://www.england.nhs.uk/2015/03/27/investment-announced/">See which GP practices will benefit</a>.</p>
<p>The funding will come from:</p>
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<p>£100 million addition to the existing £50 million Prime Minister’s Challenge fund</p>
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<p>£250 million infrastructure fund for new buildings, treatment rooms and IT</p>
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<p>£200 million transformation fund for 29 pilots to integrate services offered by hospitals, GPs, and care homes </p>
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</ul><h3 id="prime-ministers-challenge-fund">Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund</h3>
<p>The £100 million addition to the <a rel="external" href="http://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/qual-clin-lead/calltoaction/pm-ext-access/">Prime Minister’s Challenge Fund</a> will support 1,417 practices across the country. It means that 10 million more people will be offered increased access to their GP services.</p>
<p>This follows the success of an initial £50 million fund, covering more than 1,100 practices, which improved access for 7.5 million people. Early evidence shows this has helped reduce A&amp;E attendances, and relieve pressure on GP surgeries.</p>
<h3 id="infrastructure-fund">Infrastructure fund</h3>
<p>The £250 million infrastructure fund, originally announced in the Autumn Statement, will enable more than 1,000 practices to build new integrated health centres, make better use of technology and create more space to offer more appointments.</p>
<p>The fund will support some practices to offer a wider range of additional services including onsite pharmacists, speech therapists, minor surgery, and diagnostic tests.</p>
<p>The infrastructure fund will also pay for a £10 million GP workforce plan which helps set a clear direction for the future of general practice. The plan will make it easier for GPs to return to the profession following a career break, encourage more medical students to take up careers as GPs and offer GPs considering early retirement the option to work reduced hours with reduced workloads. </p>
<h3 id="transformation-fund">Transformation fund</h3>
<p>The £200 million transformation fund was announced in the Autumn Statement to start the innovation needed to ensure a sustainable NHS in future. Earlier this month <a rel="external" href="http://www.england.nhs.uk/2015/03/10/new-era-of-patient-care/">NHS England announced the first 29 areas of the country</a> receiving a share of the money to redesign care in their areas.</p></div>tag:www.gov.uk,2005:PublicationesquePresenter/2864432015-02-27T14:40:00+00:002015-03-27T17:03:25+00:00Transparency data: DH workforce information: 2015Information on the workforce of the Department of Health (DH) and its agencies for 2015.<p><em>Updated:</em> Updated to include data for February 2015.</p><div class="govspeak"><p>Information about the number of people employed by DH and its agencies during 2015 including:</p>
<ul>
<li>staff headcount by grade</li>
<li>the number of agency workers</li>
<li>the number of specialist contractors and consultants</li>
<li>payroll staff costs</li>
</ul></div>tag:www.gov.uk,2005:PublicationesquePresenter/2911822015-03-27T16:30:57+00:002015-03-27T16:30:57+00:00Guidance: Services for women and girls with FGMHow to commission successful and safe services to support women and girls with female genital mutilation (FGM).<div class="govspeak"><p>This document sets out what some elements of a successful and safe service to support women and girls with female genital mutilation (FGM) might look like. It has been developed in partnership with healthcare professionals currently involved in providing healthcare services, and it aims to highlight what commissioners might want to consider when developing a new service.</p>
<p>It can be used by any healthcare commissioners, by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), area teams and service development leads.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safeguarding-women-and-girls-at-risk-of-fgm">Find out about safeguarding women and girls at risk of FGM.</a></p></div>tag:www.gov.uk,2005:PublicationesquePresenter/2912092015-03-27T16:18:00+00:002015-03-27T16:18:00+00:00Guidance: Safeguarding women and girls at risk of FGMPractical help to support NHS organisations developing new safeguarding policies and procedures for female genital mutilation (FGM).<div class="govspeak"><p>This document provides guidance to support an NHS organisation when they are developing or reviewing safeguarding policies and procedures around female genital mutilation (FGM). </p>
<p>It can be used by health professionals from all sectors, particularly designated and named safeguarding leads, and local safeguarding children board members. It is based on existing best practice within the NHS. </p>
<p>It has been developed in partnership with health and social care professionals, and professional bodies. </p>
<p>All organisations must ensure that their approach to safeguarding against FGM is multi-agency and multi-disciplinary. They should work with partners in social services and the police.</p>
<p>Find out about <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/services-for-women-and-girls-with-fgm">commissioning services for women and girls at risk of FGM.</a></p></div>tag:www.gov.uk,2005:NewsArticlePresenter/2912202015-03-27T16:15:48+00:002015-03-27T16:15:48+00:00News story: Safer care for patientsThe Health and Social Care (Safety and Quality) Act 2015 that aims to improve safety and quality of care has received Royal Assent. <div class="govspeak"><p>Among the measures introduced by the act is a duty on health and adult social care providers to share information about a person’s care with other health and care professionals. This means that doctors and other professionals providing a person’s care and treatment will have the information they need so they can treat patients more effectively. </p>
<p>Relevant health and adult social care bodies will also be required to use a consistent identifier - the NHS Number - when processing and/or sharing information about an individual for their direct care. This will enable better connection of health and care records as people move between services, so relevant information is shared, meaning safer and better aligned care.</p>
<p>Health Minister Dr Dan Poulter said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p class="last-child">Mid Staffs was a turning point for the NHS and the measures in this Act are a major step forward in making the NHS safer. This Act will ensure doctors and nurses have access to the most up to date and accurate patient information and ensure that safety is embedded throughout the health and social care sector.</p>
</blockquote></div>tag:www.gov.uk,2005:PublicationesquePresenter/2904422015-03-27T14:33:00+00:002015-03-27T14:33:00+00:00Guidance: Flu plan: winter 2015 to 2016The flu plan sets out a coordinated and evidence-based approach to planning for, and responding to, the demands of influenza across England.<div class="govspeak"><p>The flu plan will aid the development of strong and flexible operational plans by local organisations and emergency planners within the NHS and local government. It provides the public, and healthcare professionals, with:</p>
<ul>
<li>an overview of the co-ordination and the preparation for the flu season</li>
<li>signposting to further guidance and information</li>
</ul><p>The flu plan includes details about the extension of the flu vaccination programme to children, which is being implemented gradually due to the scale of the programme, and is supported by the:</p>
<ul>
<li>annual flu letter</li>
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<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/influenza-the-green-book-chapter-19">influenza chapter in ‘Immunisation against infectious disease’ (the green book, chapter 19)</a> which is updated regularly, sometimes during a flu season</li>
<li>enhanced service specifications for seasonal flu and the childhood flu vaccination programmes</li>
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<abbr title="Chief Medical Officer">CMO</abbr> / <abbr title="Chief Public Health Officer">CPhO</abbr> letter on antivirals issued to <abbr title="General practitioners">GPs</abbr> and other prescribers during the flu season advising that antivirals may be prescribed</li>
</ul></div>tag:www.gov.uk,2005:PublicationesquePresenter/2904502015-03-27T14:29:57+00:002015-03-27T14:29:57+00:00Guidance: Flu immunisation for primary school children: advice for headteachersGuidance for headteachers and other school staff on the nasal spray flu (influenza) vaccination for primary school children.<div class="govspeak"><p>This guidance answers the most frequently asked questions regarding the nasal spray flu vaccination being offered to children in primary schools during the autumn term 2015, and is intended for:</p>
<ul>
<li>headteachers</li>
<li>school staff</li>
</ul><p>It is not intended for children, parents or guardians, as they will receive their own dedicated information at the appropriate time.</p></div>tag:www.gov.uk,2005:SpeechPresenter/2911542015-03-27T13:31:37+00:002015-03-27T13:31:37+00:00Speech: Jeremy Hunt: message to NHS staff highlighting achievementsThe Secretary of State for Health talks about recent NHS achievements and thanks all NHS staff.<div class="govspeak"><p>In my final message to you before the election I would like to thank you for pulling out all the stops and achieving remarkable results despite the huge pressures of an ageing population. Last year you carried out over one million more operations than 5 years ago and saw over 6 million more people in outpatient appointments. Alongside this, over 430,000 NHS staff have undertaken dementia training, transforming the way we look after one of the most vulnerable patient groups.</p>
<p>At the same time, we have all faced up to some difficult and longstanding problems about poor care in the wake of the Francis Inquiry - 21 hospitals have been placed into special measures, 7 have already come out and we have over 8,000 more nurses on our hospital wards tackling the issue of short-staffing head on. Over 200 NHS organisations have joined the Sign Up to Safety campaign which aims to halve avoidable deaths over 3 years. </p>
<p>I want the NHS to be the safest and most transparent healthcare system in the world where people admire us not just for being the first system offering universal coverage but also for having the highest quality, most patient-centred care anywhere in the world.</p>
<p>Perhaps the best expression of true NHS values has been your magnificent response to the Ebola epidemic. Over 1,600 of you volunteered to go to West Africa and over 150 of you travelled there. Here in England you have worked tirelessly to ensure that you were ready to care for and treat patients who might have Ebola; from the Royal Free, the surge centres in Newcastle, Sheffield and Liverpool, ambulance trusts, GP surgeries and all parts of our system. This has been a united effort of which you can be very proud.</p>
<p>Our hospitals and surgeries are very busy and we have had a tough winter so I want to conclude by thanking you for making the whole country prouder than ever of what our NHS is achieving.</p></div>tag:www.gov.uk,2005:PublicationesquePresenter/2904942015-03-27T11:05:53+00:002015-03-27T11:05:53+00:00Guidance: Air ambulance charities VAT grant scheme: 2014 to 2015Details for air ambulance charities applying for grants towards VAT costs in buying aviation fuel from 2014 to 2015.<div class="govspeak"><p>This document gives a short introduction to the scheme and describes the process for applying. </p>
<p>A grant application form, for return to the Department of Health, is also provided.</p></div>tag:www.gov.uk,2005:PublicationesquePresenter/2907242015-03-27T11:03:00+00:002015-03-27T11:03:00+00:00Policy paper: Government response to HSC report on NHS complaintsOutlines the response to conclusions and recommendations in the Health Select Committee’s (HSC) report ‘Complaints and Raising Concerns’.<div class="govspeak"><p>The report outlines the way the government wants to create long lasting cultural change across the health and social care system. The government believes that improving the way in which the NHS manages and responds to complaints will help shape a culture that listens to and learns from patients and service users, and ends a culture of defensiveness. </p></div>